In
the two articles we were assigned in class, both had points that could be tied
back to Black Hawk Down by Mark
Bowden. In the first article, it talks about the single casualty and the
successful mission that took place in Iraq. This can be connected to Black Hawk Down by using the points of
what we consider a successful mission. In the article, only one American
soldier was killed during the mission and the people they were going in to
capture was done successfully. In the end some of the prisoners were set free, but
the mission was still considered a success. In Black Hawk Down, the mission that was carried out was also
considered a success. The people we went in for were captured and taken where
they needed to be. Unfortunately, many of American soldiers died during this
mission. Were the lives that were lost worth the few men that were captured
during the mission? Should we have considered it a “successful” mission? Most
of the information that received in both missions was described by the soldiers
taking part in the mission. There was no definite information coming from a
completely reliable source. Not saying the soldiers are not reliable, but their
view on what happened is altered because of all of the adrenaline and the fact
that they must focus solely on completing the mission and staying alive.
In
the first article, it also mentions the precision in which they executed the
mission by cutting off the roads and removing the people they were after. The
way they precisely handled the mission helped in having fewer casualties in the
end. In Black Hawk Down, there was
the idea of a precise mission, but ended up being a fight for your life
situation. In the end, each mission is different in how precise it was handled.
There are many different factors that contribute to how well the mission can be
carried out. For instance, if the people in the city want the soldiers there,
how good the information was from their informant, and many other things.
The
second article talks about the different problems with communication throughout
history in the military. The use of hot air balloons as a way to see the area
that the battle was taking place was used during the Civil War. Over time, they
came up with a system using flags that could be confusing and misinterpreted
during a battle. The system that is used nowadays with the military might be
less difficult to use but it still has its flaws. In Black Hawk Down, one of the major problems was the disorganized communication.
Orders were given to late, many of the men were not communicating with one
another, and it was always like playing a game of telephone. This in the end
hindered the mission by putting the men in bad situations without a way to get
out of them. Even though there were problems with the communication, there are
not many viable solutions that can be used to fix the problem. Until we can
come up with a solution that does not break the chain of command and does not
delay the time the messages are sent to one another, there will always be a
problem with the communication.
